Impact of public subsidy on gender equity in secondary school education in Garissa district, Garissa county, Kenya

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Abstract

TheGovernment of Kenya has always put great emphasis in expanding secondary school education
since independence to enhance maximum transition from primary to secondary level. However,
despitethis government's initiative, gender disparities, still persist. Available statistics indicate that
secondaryschool enrolment in several provinces and districts across the country was in favour of
boys by 2007. The government decided to introduce subsidy to secondary education to enhance
transition rates from primary to secondary level. The purpose of this study was to assess the
impact of the public subsidy to secondary education on gender equity in Garissa District. The
objectivesof the study were to; analyze enrolment trends by gender in Garissa District from 2008-
2011 and identify factors causing gender disparities in the district. The study tried to provide
.feedback on the impact of the government subsidy towards the achievement of gender equity on
secondary education in Garissa District. The study was guided by the Darwin's Classical Liberal
Theory on Equal Opportunity which advocates for equal treatment of all of people regardless of
their gender or social status. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and targeted all the
eight public secondary schools in Garissa District. The target population was 113 respondents
comprisingof one District Education Officer (DEO), eight principals and 104 class teachers of the
eightpublic secondary schools in the district. The sample size was 43 respondents comprising of
oneDEO, 8 principals and 34 class teachers. The study employed Saturated Sampling Technique
onthe DEO and the principals while class teachers were selected using Simple Random Sampling.
The study used interview schedule guide and facts sheet to collect data from the DEO and
questionnaires to collect data from principals and class teachers. The research instruments were
pilotedin one of the schools from the neighboring district. To enhance validity, the questionnaires
were presented to the two Supervisors from Kenyatta University for guidance. To test for
reliability, test-retest technique was applied. The questionnaires for principals and for class
teachers were reliable as they yielded correlation coefficient of 0.76. The collected data was
subjected to both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The qualitative data was analyzed in
narrative form while the quantitative data was analyzed by use of percentages and frequencies
which were then presented in tables. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Packages for
SocialScience (SPSS) version 18. The study established that there existed gender disparities in the
accessto secondary school education despite various education subsidies that were offered by the
government. These were attributed to the involvement of girls in domestic chores, restricted
mobility for girls, low valuation of female labour in the market, few women teacher role models,
.early marriages among girls and the traditional socialization. Various gender enhancing strategies
suggestedincluded; identifying and working on gender parity in enrollment, educational outcomes
and retention rates, addressing the impact of educational programs and policies on boys and girls
and equitable access and quality from gender perspective. This study recommends the following:
various stakeholders such as the government, religious bodies and Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) should mobilize and sensitize parents and communities on the importance
of educating both boys and girls and ensuring equal education opportunities for both